1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of testing, provisioning and management of a network system, device or a solution. More particularly, the invention relates to the generation of test automation scripts and device libraries from a set of commands selected by the user and the association of these sets of commands with result templates and device characteristics, so that the sequence can be reused and associated with a test case and a class of device.
2. Background and Description of the Related Art
Numerous products are available on the market today that can provide testing capabilities. These are, however, limited to single vendor solutions. Also, there is no provision to provide for a unified user interface for similar products from multiple vendors.
The sequence of events in creating a test case from the interaction with a device is shown in FIG. 1. In creating a test or communication sequence, a user would select a device 101, then select a command from the known set either from knowledge or the documentation accompanying the device 102 and send the commands to the device with appropriate parameters 103. Each response is then compared against some known or assumed response format 104. Then another command can be entered if need be 105, until the last command is entered. At that point the list of commands to be generated can be manually created or saved if recorded and edited 107, then referenced by a test case.
In the available products you may be able to record the sequence, but not relate it to the known set of commands for that device or a specified result template or equivalent for the response.
What is desired is an apparatus, which provides a command execution framework and maintains command history persistent and visually displayed. Also, the apparatus either takes advantage of available scripts and device libraries to generate scripts or create device libraries. scripts, and result templates which can then be used to create test cases.